Tourism officials in Saint Lucia have expressed delight at news from the United Kingdom of an announced reduction in rates to the controversial Air Passenger Duty (APD) starting in 2015.

During his annual budget speech to London’s Parliament on Wednesday March 19, British Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne announced, “the APD will be simplified into a two band system: Band A for short haul flights of less than 2,000 miles from London and Band B for all long haul flights more than 2,000 miles from London. The new Band B will be charged at the planned rate in 2015-16 of £71 for reduced rate passengers and £142 for standard rate passengers.” 

Saint Lucia has stood in opposition to the vexing travel tax since its imposition in 2007, which effectively made travel to the island increasingly costly.

Notwithstanding a total repeal of the tax, Tourism Director Louis Lewis said he was much encouraged at the direction in which the latest structural changes to the APD regime was leaning. 

“The UK represents Saint Lucia’s second largest source market and this reduction in the cost of travel from that key gateway will certainly serve as added impetus for growth in that market,” said Lewis.

Over the years Saint Lucia has consistently joined other Caribbean destinations under the umbrella body of the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) in lobbying and mounting a vigorous challenge to the imposition of the APD, widely seen as discriminatory to the region’s tourism industry.

“This latest reduction speaks volumes as to what can be achieved as a grouping, when we champion external issues collectively,” said Lewis.

The changes to the APD come into effect in April of 2015.

Recording tens of millions of visitors annually, the Caribbean is one of the world’s leading tourism locales, with the industry being the lifeblood of many regional economies. 

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